Tagged: Life

You guys remember hearing and learning about the fact that “Objects that are in motion…stay in motion.”, right? I do. I actually explicitly remember sitting in my middle school class and hearing that statement. Learning about inertia and momentum was very a-typical for me when compared to 95% of all other topics taught at that level – Why, you ask? Because it totally made sense the first time I heard it and was something that I felt was completely, 100% applicable to real life outside the classroom. If something is headed in one direction…it takes some kind of force to knock it off course and/or stop it all together. Interesting Mr Physics teacher…interesting.

This was all so interesting to me not because of the actual physics involved or because I was so dialed into learning that specific day – it was interesting to me because it spoke to LIFE and how to live it. See to me – it’s all about momentum and life inertia…I believe if you are working towards something, staying in-motion, creating positive momentum and strong life inertia – it takes something very significant to throw you off course AND the more momentum you have built up the harder it is to sway you. Obviously the opposite is true as well.

There is good inertia and bad inertia – I 100% think that there is good momentum/inertia and bad. In life if you can keep on a positive path, with good momentum…your inertia will carry you to good things and ultimately where you want to go. This applies to family, work, friends, sports and overall other LIFE stuff. Even the phrase, albeit corny, “if you’re not moving forward, you’re taking steps back” seems to resonate with me because it makes sense. Think about it with me…

If you are sitting on the couch, moping around, feeling sorry for yourself and your position in life – is it going to get better or worse? If you are some lazy, complainer, looking out only for yourself – will people shower you will attention and support? OR…If you’re busting your butt, working hard, doing and saying the right things…are good things going to happen and will you find your self faced with more and more opportunity as your positive momentum gains strength? The answer is clear to me.

All this doesn’t mean you won’t be faced with forces, even if on the right path, that knock you off course (one way or another) but it means that dealing with those forces is crucially important to getting back on and maintaining your path and general direction in life.

Life is simple (I figured it out!)- it’s about creating positive momentum and maintaining it. Too often I see people with amazing momentum get thrown off course and not be able to get back to where they were or… I see people will zero momentum get frustrated at the lack of opportunity or good things presented to them. Forces are all around us people – If you let that force knock you off course and/or stop you in your tracks…it’s even harder to get started and get back to that place of positive movement and inertia and where you want to be.

Did you know that I was capable of such deep thinking? Should I write a book one day? Become a motivational speaker? I don’t know…up to the reader in this case. I just wanted to share what I think is a core philosophy, based in physics that I try to keep in mind every single day. And….You’re welcome. Thanks for reading.

I promised myself, when I started this blog, that I wouldn’t do it for a few months and then disappear. I was committed to blogging and wanted to be consistent…Welp. That went right to hell as soon as I became a father. Makes sense, right? Sure it does! But I am not making excuses. I’m BACK and promise to pound the keyboard as much as humanly possible for the enjoyment of others and myself. Fact is – between insane work schedules, commuting, traveling, baby stuff, watching the golf channel and spending time w/ the wife – life can sometimes move too fast…Blogging helps slow that down for me – almost like verbal mediation. It’s good for me and hopefully it’s good for you too.

I would now like to share some of the random thoughts that I’ve had over the last few months of going blog-less. Get excited! Some of these thoughts may turn into full fledged blogs…some might not…but either way…enjoy here and now while I dust off the cobwebs from the ol’ electronic typewriter and flex my internets.

– 12 Years a Slave was INTENSE.

– The finale to HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER was….completely underwhelming and expected.

– The large majority of people in the professional world are un-professional.

– I hate Southern Charm…but love it at the same time.

– I’m off Walking Dead.

– Shameless is ridiculously awesome.

– Taxes are fun.

– I may have to buy all custom clothes for the rest of my life.

– It’s BASEBALL SEASON!

– I was totally right about GoogleGlass!

– How is Justin Bieber NOT in jail?

– That thing on 60 Minutes re: how the stock market is rigged blew my mind.

– The AD TECH world is completely and utterly out of freaking control. In a good way…

There ya have it! Some random thought nuggets from my brain. Stay tuned for more goodness

Like this:

I’ll never forget it…I was 22 years old, interning/kinda working at Island Def Jam records, really diving into digital music (Itunes had just launched and Napster was a household name) and I had the best idea ever. It was really simple…but brilliant.

I was really in to A R – the department where a bunch of music snobs and trendsetters decide who gets a deal and who doesn’t – I was totally plugged into new/up and coming bands. Not only did I now what we were signing I knew what other labels were signing and would occasionally make some fantastic predictions. I was say “this band is going to be huge…” “they stink but someone will sign them”…”They ROCK, but i think everyone will stay away” etc…

A few of the bands/artists that I saw/heard that I 100% knew would blow up…did. I remember early My Chemical romance, All American reject demos, seeing Fallout Boy play their first NJ show at Skate and Surf , The Used first songs recorded before they even played live, the killers as they were just signed, The White Stripes, The Strokes and more. Other people got SUPER excited about stuff that I knew would fizzle out and never do anything. Oh, and they did too.

“Wow, this is cool – they pay people for this? I can do this all day.” I thought. But you see…I didn’t think I was that special – I thought…”A lot of kids like me could do this – they should”. Hence…my brilliant idea came in to shape.

I envisioned a music service – like itunes – where people could download (and or stream music) and “invest” points in artists they were digging. There would be different levels of success and for each level achieved there would be rewards that came in the form of real stuff (tickets, merch etc) and or more points. Points could be earned based on overal usage/engagement on the site and redeemed for more music and even real money (and the time I didn’t know this was impossible but it was not crucial to the model). I thought…”This makes ever kid their own A R person…everyone will get to “get in early” on bands they love, be encouraged to consume more music and get rewarded for when good stuff happens”.

On the other end of the equation…bands would sign up for the service (for a small fee) so that their points that were invested could be turned into real money to be used for production/touring/tacos/anything else they wanted. People would pay to have the ability to invest and be rewarded and artists would pay to be a part of the fund raising. I didn’t know it…but I invented crowd sourcing!!!! Not only that…I was “gamifying” Music before “Gamification” was a thing!

Now – I considered diving in full force…I made some inquiries about legal stuff/patents and seeing if anyone had thought of this before. But…that’s pretty much where is ended. I was finishing school…looking forward to a full job and moving to NYC. Then life took over and I never launched my idea. I talked about it with some folks and everyone agreed…brilliant. BUT…I didn’t do anything with it.

Now – there is a little (not so little if you know the space) company, ran by really smart people in NYC, called Kickstarter. These guys are doing exactly what I didn’t do (i.e. – only thought of)…and… they are worth several hundred million dollars (conservatively). WHAMMY! You win Kickstarter – well done. They are raising money, via crowd sourcing, for artists, bands, movies, individuals and anything else you can think. Really amazing stuff, very well designed, marketed and executed… and I’m glad I thought of it. http://www.kickstarter.com/

It’s Ok guys dont fret…I did ok. I love my job and my career path has been wonderfully exciting thus far and I don’t really have any regrets. However a little piece of me wishes that I took the plunge and started that company. Let it be a lesson…don’t sit around on greatness because someone else will do it if you don’t!

Talk about the mother of all game changers. I’m about to be a DAD. George is about to be a brother-dog and my awesome wife is going to a mother. Not just any mother…the BEST. That’s a given. Me and George on the other hand…our dad and brother-dog ability is still TBD but I’m fairly confident that we will all play our part in one tremendous little family.

I’m excited, terrified, thrilled, nervous, anxious, over-the-moon all at the same time.

Like this:

So…..I decided to start a blog. Exciting right? It was either start a blog or join KOA, the local crossfit personal training facility. KOA would have cost a lot of money and necessitated the forfeiting of my, already limited, free time at my lovely home in Cranford NJ and well….Blogging was free and I choose to work out my mind rather than my body for this go-round. Maybe next time physical fitness will take priority but for now..it’s witty Internet action that takes the proverbial cake.

I’ve always wanted to Blog…I like to write and back in the MySpace days I used to hunker down and blog it out on a handfull of times when something struck me as blog worthy. If I remember correctly once I slammed the keys regarding my insanely frustrating moving experience when I re-located from LA back to NYC…even one time letting rip on my favorite all time records growing up (which consisted of some super awesome 90s pop-punk, emo and some hardcore tunes that I still listen to)…and let’s not forget my legendary rant on Lebron James’ ridiculous “decision” and the freak show that accompanied it. I’ll get inspired every now and again and write a long”ish” Facebook update and or a witty tweet – but sometimes that doesn’t cut the mustard and or quench my creative thirst. So I thought – “Let’s blog!”…I have some experience but this time I really wanted to commit and start something cool. Like really commit to sharing my thoughts on stuff on a semi-regular basis and give people, friends, family something interesting to chew on. “But Chris…What will you blog about?” You might ask…Well I’ll tell ya’…Whatever the hell I want.

“But Chris…when will you find the time? I know you are so busy as is…” Well – you’re right. I work 12 hour days and am always on call via my multiple email/phone devices…It’s a labor of love, so I’m ok with the time I put into work however this may present a problem. BUT I’m going to give it a shot and do my best in setting aside some time for you lovely people to share my insides. I’ve got TWO main goals -1) I want you guys to enjoy it and 2) Get some stuff off my chest and have this act as a creative, thought provoking outlet

Now that we got all that out of the way – Let’s talk about me! Who am I? What do I stand for? What makes me stand up and clap? Do I watch the Bachelor or The Walking Dead? Am I more likely to take the window or aisle seat? If I could hang out with either Jay Z or Derek Jeter for a day who do I pick? Which cast of ladies is my favortie Bravo’s REAL Housewives? Which tunes are currently rocking my world? Do I prefer white or dark meat? If I had one meal for the rest of my life – what would it be? What’s my favorite episode of Seinfeld? Which professional athlete do I despise the most and why? What’s my go-to scotch? Well…Spend some time on here and come back regularly and you just might find out.

Thanks for listening and….Buckle up folks. This is going to be a wild ride

It was a pretty day last week…Spring is coming. And this will most likely be my view while I blog for you all (on the lovely NJ Transit).